I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 556

To provide for aviation noise management and reduction in residential areas.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 1993

Mr. ZIMMER (for himself, Mr. GALLO, and Mr. TORRICELLI) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Public Works and

Transportation

A BILL

To provide for aviation noise management and reduction

in residential areas.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Noise Limit

5 Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The accurate assessment and control of

9 aviation noise impact is necessary to protect the
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1 public health and welfare while increasing and im2 proving aviation capacity.

3 (2) Airspace management without noise impact

4 assessment and moderation can have a significant

5 impact on an area distant from an airport.

6 (3) The Federal system for determining noise

7 impact at airports, which currently serves as the

8 basis of noise compatibility programs receiving Fed9 eral assistance, does not adequately protect the pub10 lic health and welfare.

11 (4) The Federal system for determining noise

12 impact at airports does not take into account the

13 characteristics of an area, including the area’s prox14 imity to an airport and the area’s non-aircraft back15 ground noise.

16 (5) The Federal system for determining noise

17 impact at airports is less restrictive than the criteria

18 used by many State and local governments, usurping

19 a zoning role normally allocated to the States.

20 (6) The Federal system for determining noise

21 impact at airports is inconsistent with the mainte22 nance of accepted interior levels of quiet for existing

23 residences and has been demonstrated unsuccessful

24 in identifying problems and predicting community

25 reaction.
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1 (7) The Federal system for determining noise

2 impact at airports does not protect against signifi3 cant disturbances in human activities such as sleep

4 and conversation and promotes Federal interference

5 with the constitutionally protected right to quiet en6 joyment of private property.

7 (8) Research showing that low levels of noise

8 affects human health and welfare requires changes

9 in Federal programs managing noise levels.

10 (9) Population density, background noise levels,

11 and distance from an airport are factors which af12 fect an individual’s expectations with respect to avia13 tion noise and an individual’s acceptance of aviation

14 noise.

15 (10) Changes to the noise environment of a de16 veloped and populated area should be treated dif17 ferently from changes to the noise environment of a

18 nonpopulated or industrial area.

19 SEC. 3. AVIATION NOISE LIMITS.

20 (a) REDUCTION OF AVIATION NOISE IN AREAS IN

21 THE VICINITY OF AIRPORTS.—

22 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—The Secretary

23 shall develop a staged plan to reduce by at least 75

24 percent on or before January 1, 2001, the number

25 of individuals residing in residential areas in the vi-
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1 cinity of an airport who are exposed to a yearly day2 night average sound level of 60 decibels or above.

3 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the plan

4 pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall con5 sider various methods for aviation noise reduction,

6 including soundproofing, relocation incentives, use of

7 quieter aircraft, operations restrictions, and revision

8 of air routes.

9 (3) FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—

10 As part of the plan to be developed pursuant to

11 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall make rec12 ommendations on actions and policy changes on the

13 part of Federal departments and agencies (including

14 but not limited to the Department of Transpor15 tation) which could assist in meeting the objective

16 described in paragraph (1).

17 (4) MODIFICATION OF REGULATIONS.—The

18 Secretary shall modify regulations issued pursuant

19 to section 102 of the Aviation and Safety Noise

20 Abatement Act of 1979 to assist in meeting the ob21 jective described in paragraph (1).

22 (b) MANAGEMENT AND REDUCTION OF AVIATION

23 NOISE IN OTHER AREAS.—

24 (1) AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGES.—Beginning

25 on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Admin-
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1 istrator may make an airspace traffic change only if

2 the Administrator determines that the change will

3 not result in an increase in aviation noise in viola4 tion of paragraph (2).

5 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A violation of any of the

6 following requirements, which apply only to residen7 tial areas that are not in the vicinity of an airport,

8 shall be considered to be a violation of this para9 graph:

10 (A) HOURLY AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—

11 The hourly average sound level, with combined

12 aviation and nonaviation sources, over any 1-

13 hour period may not exceed 6 decibels above the

14 background sound level for such 1-hour period.

15 (B) SINGLE EVENT MAXIMUM SOUND

16 LEVEL.—Under normal circumstances, the sin17 gle event maximum sound level—

18 (i) may not exceed 70 decibels;

19 (ii) during nighttime hours, may not

20 exceed 55 decibels; and

21 (iii) may not be more than 20 decibels

22 above the background sound level for the

23 1-hour period in which the event occurs.

24 The requirement of this subparagraph shall be

25 considered to have been met if there are no
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1 more than 3 violations of the limits contained

2 in this subparagraph in a 24-hour period.

3 (C) DAY-NIGHT AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—

4 If the day-night average sound level, with com5 bined aviation and nonaviation sources, exceeds

6 45 decibels, then aviation activity may not con7 tribute more than 3 decibels to such sound

8 level.

9 (3) PAST AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGES.—The

10 Administrator shall review airspace traffic changes

11 made by the Administrator which continue to be

12 subject to significant complaint or controversy and

13 shall take such actions as may be necessary to en14 sure that such air traffic changes do not result in

15 increases in aviation noise which violate aviation

16 noise limits contained in paragraph (2).

17 (d) DETERMINATION OF VICINITY OF AIRPORT.—

18 (1) ALTERNATIVE BOUNDARIES.—In the event

19 that operations procedures of an airport result in a

20 ground noise distribution substantially different

21 from the geographic area defined in section 4(10),

22 an airport operator may, on or before the 180th day

23 following the date of the enactment of this Act,

24 transmit to the Secretary for approval alternative

25 boundaries of the vicinity of the airport which con-
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1 form to the ground noise distribution of the airport;

2 except that the geographic area enclosed by such al3 ternative boundaries may not include an area with

4 a day-night average sound level of less than 60 deci5 bels for the 1-year period ending on the date of the

6 enactment of this Act.

7 (2) ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.—In the event

8 that an airspace traffic change or other action

9 makes it unfeasible or impracticable to meet the

10 sound level limits contained in subsection (b) within

11 a residential area, then such area may be added to

12 the area considered to be in the vicinity of the air13 port upon acquisition of the property or by acquisi14 tion of easements to the property by the airport op15 erator or the Secretary of Transportation.

16 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date

17 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit

18 to Congress a report containing the plan to be developed

19 pursuant to subsection (a)(1), and a description of actions

20 taken with respect to airspace changes pursuant to sub21 section (b)(3), together with recommendations for appro22 priate administrative and legislative actions.
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1 SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITY OF SECRETARY OF TRANSPOR2 TATION.

3 In complying with this Act, the Secretary of Trans4 portation shall assume responsibility for all non-military

5 aviation activity, within and outside controlled airspace,

6 and shall regulate such activity to ensure compliance with

7 the requirements of this Act in normal circumstances.

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

9 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions

10 apply:

11 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis12 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal

13 Aviation Administration.

14 (2) AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGE.—The term

15 ‘‘airspace traffic change’’ means a change in aircraft

16 flight paths, operating procedures, nature of aircraft

17 traffic, and quantity of aircraft traffic which is ap18 plicable in normal circumstances.

19 (3) AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—The term ‘‘aver20 age sound level’’ means the level, in decibels, of the

21 mean-square, A-weighted sound pressure during a

22 specified period, with reference to the square of the

23 standard reference sound pressure of 20

24 micropascals.

25 (4) BACKGROUND SOUND LEVEL.—The term

26 ‘‘background sound level’’ means the hourly average
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1 sound level, in decibels, measured at a site rep2 resentative of a relatively quiet residential location

3 within an area (with aircraft noise contributions ex4 cluded).

5 (5) DAY-NIGHT AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—The

6 term ‘‘day-night average sound level’’ means the 24-

7 hour average sound level, in decibels, for the period

8 from midnight to midnight, obtained after the addi9 tion of 10 decibels to sound levels during nighttime

10 hours.

11 (6) NIGHTTIME HOURS.—The term ‘‘nighttime

12 hours’’ means the periods between midnight and 7

13 a.m. and between 10 p.m. and midnight local time.

14 (7) NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES.—The term ‘‘nor15 mal circumstances’’ means all circumstances other

16 than unusually adverse weather and emergency cir17 cumstances.

18 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

19 the Secretary of Transportation.

20 (9) SINGLE EVENT MAXIMUM SOUND LEVEL.—

21 The term ‘‘single event maximum sound level’’

22 means the level, in decibels, of the maximum A23 weighted sound pressure during an aircraft over24 flight obtained using a standard sound level meter

25 under a slow response setting.
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1 (10) VICINITY OF AN AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘vi2 cinity of an airport’’ means the geographic area sur3 rounding an airport established before the date of

4 the enactment of this Act described nominally as fol5 lows:

6 (A) The area extending in all directions a

7 distance of 1.5 miles from each runway estab8 lished before such date of the enactment.

9 (B) The rectangular area defined by draw10 ing a straight center line a distance of 4 miles

11 from the end of each runway established before

12 such date of the enactment in the direction of

13 heaviest traffic and extending 1.5 miles per14 pendicular from the center line on each side of

15 such runway.

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